


Tsunami

by MilayaMilenZeal



Series: Long Live the Queen [31]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fear of octopi, Post-Game(s), not knowing how to swim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 11:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11920380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilayaMilenZeal/pseuds/MilayaMilenZeal
Summary: M.E. 787Great bodies of water are a rarity for most people of Eos, and therefore not many know how to properly deal with it. And dealing with an angry lady at the same time makes things so much worse… if not for the annoying jester.





	Tsunami

If there was one thing that Regina and her friends have never actively learned, nor have made an effort to learn, it would be swimming. Then again, there are only so many bodies of water around Eos, and most of them were shallow enough to wade through. And those that aren’t, are best avoided anyway, because of the daemons that roam the waters beneath.

The point is, in all her nearly 20 years of life, Regina has _never_ learned to swim, and she still has _no_ idea… and that’s worrisome…

 

“Sure you’ll be alright, sweetheart?” her Dad is asking.

“I’ll be fine, Dad,” Regina says with a smile. “I might just go fishing later until the others arrive. After that we’ll likely just play cards for a while.”

“Okay, princess,” he says with a smile, before he holds out his arms. “So… do I get a good luck hug?”

Regina laughs but she doesn’t deny him and moves over to hug him and he hugs her back firmly.

“I love you, princess.”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

The final part goes a lot quicker, and secretly, she’s glad, because as much as she loves her Dad, she knows like no other that he’ll try to stop her if he knew what she’s planning. But she holds her sincere expression until he’s gone, at which point she pulls out her phone and makes a single call.

 

Domi shows up first, because of course he does, Libby’s next, and then is Terry. They check their supplies inside the house, double checking everything three times over (maybe even four times), before they head out. Regina hopes to be back on time, but just in case, she sets the automatic timer for the beacons on, and then they head out of the house, and after she had locked the door behind them, they start up the hill.

They reach the lighthouse barely five minutes later, and when they arrive, they merely stand around for a moment, and they wait.

“…are you certain, Regina?” Libby asks after a moment. “Can we trust him?”

“It’s fine…” Regina says with a small nod as she leans against the side of the doorway. “He might not look it… but he’s reliable.”

Libby doesn’t question it any further, but she’s clearly not any more certain of it than she was a minute ago. Terry merely snorts as she crosses her arms over her chest, while Domi seems a hit uncertain. And honestly? Regina doesn’t blame him.

What they’re about to do is extremely risky, after all.

“Good morning.”

All four of them look up at the call, and Regina nods her head quietly. “Hey, Sol…” she says as she stands up straight. “We good to go?”

“I believe so, yes,” Solaris confirms with a nod as he joins them at the elevator’s entrance. “Shall we?”

“…Yeah, let’s,” Regina says as they step in and close the door, before Regina takes the lever and pulls it down. Instantly, the elevator shudders, and then slowly descends, and she breathes deeply.

Her Dad’s always prohibited her from coming out here, because it’s dangerous and there’d be nothing holding her back if she fell in the water. And that’d be bad, because she – and most of Lucis – did NOT know how to swim.

And that was a bit worrisome, because what they were about to do would involve them being around a very _huge_ body of water, with no rails to keep them back if they lost their footing. It was a dangerous stunt they were preparing to pull… but it was one they _had_ to do.

Once the elevator stops on the lowest floor, they file out and make their way to the boat that had been moored there for these past few days. Getting it there had been a chore, and Regina’s sure that getting out would’ve been even harder if her Dad hadn’t left earlier. She doesn’t do this often, but as she steps onto the boat after Solaris, she’s hoping her Dad’s hunt takes a long time, because she doesn’t want him coming back to find out she’s gone down here.

And yeah, sure, she’s an adult, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t rules that must be obeyed, regardless.

She has maybe a few minutes before the boat is unhooked and the engine is started, giving her a few precious minutes to call the whole thing off. But the minutes come and go, and then her chance is gone as the boat begins its slow trek along the water, before gradually picking up speed.

Regina takes a heavy breath and she hopes her Dad will never find out.

He doesn’t need to know they’ve gone to the ruins of Altissia without telling anyone about it.

 

They make small talk on the way there, but no one sticks very close to the railings, which isn’t very surprising. Solaris very rarely joins in the conversation, but when he does, the others are very clipped around him, even Domi, which surprises Regina the most. Domi’s usually the one who’d be most likely to talk to someone like that, and yet here he is, regarding Solaris as if he’s a Niff or something. She wants them to get along, but she can understand their obvious distrust of him, so she really can’t hold it against them. She just hopes that they’ll grow over it soon, because as much as they dislike each other, they _do_ need his help…

The water is quiet… well, as quiet as the ocean _can_ be… and the wind is blowing her hair every which way and she snarls as she pushes it aside. She _really_ has to remember to grab the scissors when they’re done with all this crap; she’s getting tired of her hair blowing in her face. She’s not sure why, but her hair seems to be growing a lot faster than it should be.

Regina eventually shakes the matter off as they arrive at Altissia…

Well… what remains of it.

She can picture the streets bustling with activity, can imagine where the shop vendors would stand to greet the fresh batches of tourists coming in daily, can imagine the sound of laughter and joy as no one would even think of what horrors could be found beyond their borders. She pictures it so clearly that it feels less like a dream and more like an actual memory…

“This is… Altissia…?” Domi asks, and she can see how he’s itching for his sketchpad, wanting to capture everything he can. Sadly, they have no time, so he merely looks to Regina in question, and she doesn’t hesitate as she pulls out her camera, ensures the right memory card is slotted in, and begins to take shot after shot as they walk.

“Pity…” Libby is saying as she adjusts her glasses, looking at the remains of what must have once been a gondola. “I’m sure it would’ve been a true sight to visit it in its prime…”

“How come no one tried to rebuild this place, anywho? Woulda expected peeps to want this place to stay standin’, yanno?” Terry quips, though she doesn’t seem to be expecting an answer, because she’s not the least bit upset when she doesn’t get one.

Both Regina and Solaris are silent as they walk, because there’s nothing they can say that hasn’t already been said. She doesn’t worry much about what they’re about to do, but at the same time she’s hoping that everything will be okay. But as they walk on, a single worried thought enters her mind and she feels that she _needs_ to speak out about it.

“Will I have to… I mean, Father had to… right?”

The words aren’t coming out as they should, but she’s pretty sure that Solaris knows what she means. And he proves her right.

“To be fair, she was… well, I suppose ‘grumpy’, is one way to put it, at the time… but anyone would be upon being awakened so rudely.”

“…I suppose so…”

It definitely worries her; because she will definitely have problems in the water. The swimming aspect is just one part of it, but there’s also the part where she _may_ just have to learn to hold her breath for longer than she’s used to… Both of those are not concepts she’s eager to work on, but she’ll have to make due.

The city is… or “was”, rather… huge; it felt much bigger than Lestallum, even, and that was with the section of Altissia that had already been in ruins from before the whole fiasco with the Empire happened. It hurts her to think of everything that had been destroyed here in less than a few hours, if not because of the Hydraean’s rage then by the Empire that had sought to kill her and the Oracle.

Not everything that had happened that day had become public knowledge, she’s well aware, but she’s certain the Oracle’s death had been one of the things _everyone_ had come to associate with that horrible day. It had been a terrible loss, and everyone had grieved her death in their own way…

But they have no time to grieve, now, as much as Regina wishes she could spare the time for the woman who was her Father’s childhood friend and fiancée – she wasn’t upset about that, by the way; royalty are required to produce heirs, so, yes, it would make sense for her Father and the Oracle to become betrothed at some point.

She almost smacks herself for getting so distracted in her thoughts. She has more important issues to deal with…

 

“This is the place,” Solaris stated as they walked along the ruins.

“Yeah? I couldn’t tell…” Terry says sarcastically as she surveys the rubble.

And that was a perfectly fitting description; Altissia itself had been in ruins, but this was more rubble than anything. Rocks and molded wood and metal and who knows what else, either from ages well beyond their time, or only a few decades ago. Either way, the place is a mess and hardly resembles the sacred area it must have once been.

“…So, this is where the Oracle summoned Leviathan, correct?” Libby asks after briefly adjusting her glasses. “It shows… she must have been livid upon her awakening.”

“She was…” Solaris confirms with a nod. “Let’s hope that her rage has subsided somewhat over the decades… lest the ground gives way from beneath us.”

“I didn’t need to hear that,” Domi whines with a pout as he hurried along. “There aren’t any… I dunno… large octopus-thingies or something nearby, right?”

“Hm? I don’t think so… why?” Solaris murmured curiously.

“Domi’s not a fan of octopi,” Regina merely offers, and that’s all she intends to say on the matter.

“ _Regiiiiiii!_ ” Domi whines, and it makes the others chuckle in response, while Domi proceeds to pout unhappily.

Solaris is clearly trying not to chuckle as well, though he can’t quite stop the small smile. “I see… well, you don’t have to worry; even if there were any octopi around, they’d be small enough to fit in your hand.”

“Somehow that’s even _worse_ …” Domi whines.

Regina merely smiles at her friend, but she doesn’t say anything as they continue along…

“ _Kekekeke~_ ”

…until she catches a sound that she doesn’t recognize initially and she frowns. ‘ _Was that… was someone… laughing?_ ’

Suddenly Domi cries out in fright and nearly crashes into her back and she yowls. “The hell, Domi?!”

“S-something slimy just touched my leg!”

“Seriously?! Ugh… c’mon, Domi; ya deal with _bugs_ better than you deal with octo’s.”

“Bugs don’t have arms bigger than their bodies!”

“Spiders certainly do,” Libby points out.

“ _Those are legs not arms!_ ”

Regina sighs softly as Domi clings to her arms from behind, but she doesn’t shake her friend off. She’s not mean enough to point out to Domi that there’s really no reason to be so worried. After all, it’s not like octopi had some strange obsession with cute girls.

She _is_ tempted to say she was never letting Domi near the internet again, but she holds back the urge to do so.

“Here it is,” Solaris says then, and Regina looks over to see him stepping up some steps. “Coming, Regina?”

“Yeah, coming,” she says, before turning to Domi quietly.

He pouts a bit, but he lets her go regardless so she can join Solaris silently. Her friends stay behind, and this actually worries her a bit. She knows they’ll be fine, but she’d rather have them by her side, still. She eventually shakes it off as Solaris begins to unwrap the long package he’s brought with him.

“You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll—”

Regina has no time to finish the sentence, as a shrill scream pierces through the air that makes her tense in both terror and alarm, because she _knows_ that scream. And those fears are confirmed when she turns around to the source just as Libby and Terry shout out in horror as well, though it’s nowhere near the terrified screams piercing the air as their friend disappears from sight.

“ _DOMI!!_ ” Regina screams as she rushes down the stairs, away from the plateau she’d been walking toward, uncaring as she runs after Libby and Terry, and she can barely hear Solaris hurrying after them as well.

It’s not hard to figure out where he’s gone; they just need to follow his screaming, and also the few gunshots he’s able to let loose.

“Dom! You okay?!” Terry shouts out.

“ _No I’m **NOT** ‘okay’!!_” Domi’s shouting, sounding both angry and terrified.

“Just stay where you are!!” Libby calls out as Regina summons her sword and throws it toward a far-off pillar, warping over there to get ahead of the others and hopefully catch up to whatever just took off with their friend. “We’re on our way!”

Regina’s warping from one pillar to the next, trying to keep up but finding herself just short of her friend. When she catches the thing that took her friend, it’s gonna wish it was never brought into existence by the Six!

She finally reaches him, and when she does, he’s shooting at a bunch of overgrown Sahagins – wait where did _those_ come from? – perched up on a rock that puts him just out of range of the large beasts. She calls his name and he looks up in alarm, but his fingers never let go of his guns and he refuses to budge still.

Terry catches up first, and then Libby and Solaris last, and between the five of them, the Sahagins are soon disposed of.

And once they are, Regina hurries over to her friend and holds out her arms, and he takes them gratefully and allows himself to be pulled down and into the hug waiting for him. He’s standing on shaky legs, she can tell, and his face is buried in her shoulder as he tries to even out his breathing, arms coiled around her shoulders with his nails curled into her jacket. She’s okay with that as she pats his back to try and get him to calm down, which takes a little longer than she’d expected it to.

“Okay, the _hell_ just happened anyway?” Terry finally demands, more than a little aggravated with the whole situation, and no one can really blame her. Now they have to get all the way back to the area they’d just spent what feels like an hour getting to.

It will probably take them just as long to get back.

As Solaris walks over, though, Domi glares at him angrily. “You said there weren’t any big ones!”

“Pardon…? …wait, huh?”

“Domi…” Libby starts slowly. “Are you saying that it was… an octopus that…?”

“ _Yes!_ ”

Regina has a hard time wrapping her head around that, but at the same time she doubts that Domi would just make that up, especially given his innate fear – and yes it _was_ a fear, even if Domi outright denies it – of the tentacled beasts.

“C’mon, Dom, seriously?!” Terry on the other hand… “I know there’s things out there bigger than usual, but I’m pretty sure there ain’t no octo’s anywhere ‘round!”

“ _Yes there are!_ ” Domi almost wails as he continues to cling to Regina, his grip going so tight that she’s having trouble breathing.

“Dom… air, please.”

“Eep!”

Domi finally lets her go, then, and she breathes a little easier, though she still worries a bit. Something’s not right, she knows… but she can’t tell what…

…which is about the moment she hears something slithering along the ground as well as the same sound she’d heard before… and now she recognizes it;

Cackling.

“Weapons at the ready _now!_ ” she shouts and while the others jump in alarm at the suddenness, they don’t question it and summon their weapons swiftly.

And it’s a good thing they did as Regina had just told them to, because shortly after they have, the sound becomes so loud that they all hear it, and then – _IT_ shows up, launching from its hiding spot with a leap that should’ve never been possible for something like THAT, crashing down in front of them where it towers over them menacingly and Domi is squealing and ducking behind her, even though he’s still got his guns out and ready.

“H-how in—!?” Libby is choking out, but it’s mostly drowned out by Domi shouting: “ _See!?_ I told you!!” as they stare at the gigantic, purple writhing mess of tentacles with a giant line of teeth around the bottom of its face above the tentacles and two giant eyes and _fuck!_ Where did this thing even come from!?

But that wasn’t even the worst (and weirdest) part of the whole thing…

_IT TALKED!!_

“ _Ke~ke~ke~ke~ke!_ Well now! Ain’t this an interesting scenario? It ain’t often I’m surrounded by such pretty things~”

Terry was stammering in shock – something that does _not_ happen often! – as she tries to make sense of the fact that this large creature was actually _talking_ , and Libby’s mouth is hanging open because she knows better than anyone that there should not be beasts out there that can speak the human language as fluidly as this thing just did! Regina, in the meantime, is trying to keep a straight face, but it’s not easy when confronted with this-this… the hell do you call this scenario anyway!? And Solaris appears to be just as shocked as everyone, even though, like Regina, he’s trying very hard to keep it off of his face.

And Domi? Well… he was busy freaking out over the whole thing while trying not to openly freak out.

“ _Oh god oh god oh god…!_ ” he whimpers out behind her, and while she can’t see him, she’s sure he’s shaking.

The octopus cackles again, and it puts them all on edge, priming their weapons and preparing themselves for whatever the thing is going to bring them. And if anything, it cackles even louder at that, and it says something then that Regina barely catches because she’s too focused on its movements – and yet somehow she still misses the tentacle that comes up and smacks her away from the side. _How even!?_

She doesn’t get the chance to think about it, as Domi suddenly screams, which is followed by a pair of shots from his guns and Regina immediately lurches back to her feet.

It takes her barely a moment to throw her sword and to warp over, the blade buried in the octopus’ head, making it yowl before trying to smack her off. Thankfully, she’s learned and the tentacle smacks itself in the face instead. She laughs at the sound it makes, before she’s at her friends’ side. They exchange a few looks and then they nod before they all leap into the fray, with only Domi staying behind to offer long-ranged support.

Even between the five of them – Solaris jumped in a little while ago – it’s not an easy feat to beat this giant octopus; it’s all flailing limbs and unnatural movements that makes it hard to predict what’s coming next. So yeah, they get tossed around _a lot_ , and it’s starting to annoy Regina more than a little.

Especially when the thing keeps trying to get to Domi!

“Keep your slimy tentacles _away_ from Dom, you dumb octopus!” she roars as she knocks back another tentacle.

“ _Ooooooh~_ So scary!” the thing taunts her, and she wants to scream at it, but she settles on a furious growl as she snaps up her blade and starts to shoot at it as well. And next time it lashes a tentacle at her, she sees it coming and she dives aside, phasing out of range with a burst of crystalline blue light before she buries her blade into the tentacle. “ _YEOUCH!!_ ”

Regina almost laughed, but she tones it down to a smirk because she needs her full attention on the fight. She can see Terry whipping out a shield every now and then to block the incoming blows, though she still gets thrown back every now and again. Libby’s doing her part and trying to analyze the thing for weaknesses, but she’s already lost her glasses two times by having them be flung off her face – and Regina’s glad they make the glasses a little sturdier than they used to or they’d have a problem…

Solaris is smacking the tentacles aside and then spearing them on the trident he’s brought with him – that’s the “Trident of the Oracle”, wasn’t it? – but she can tell he’s unused to using a trident in comparison to the sword he’s carried last time she saw him. Regina makes a note to get over to him and relieve him of the weapon when she gets the chance to.

The only one that’s having a horrible time is Domi, but that’s to be expected with his fear of octo’s. And Regina makes another note upon seeing the look on his face as he shoots at the tentacles trying to get him as he ducks and weaves between the ruins to get the poor boy a tub of ice cream once this is over. He’s probably gonna complain about getting fat, but hell, if it works for her Dad, surely it’ll work for him.

And that’s when the tentacle suddenly slams into her stomach and sends her flying with a yowl. She’s cursing and screaming as she begins to drop from the air, expecting to land on the ground in a second so she can roll over and leap back to her feet…

…it doesn’t happen.

**_SPLASH_ **

“ _…!!_ ”

Her first rational thought as her eyes snap open is the cold and then it’s the agony as her eyes start to burn and she opens her mouth to scream – but all that comes out it a garbled noise as her mouth fills with salt water. Regina starts kicking and flailing in the water, trying to see through blurry and burning eyes to find the surface. She spots the white of the sun above her and kicks her feet out below her and moves her arms downward, trying to move herself upward through the water but her entire body is being weighed down and she doesn’t understand why! Her lungs are burning and she forces herself to not breathe in because she knows there’s no air as she struggles against the water to get up.

Then she finally breaks the surface and she takes the biggest gulp of air she’s ever taken in her life, and then she coughs and chokes to get the water she had accidentally inhaled out from her lungs. Her eyes are burning and she’s sure they’re red but that’s the least of her concern as she feels herself being dragged down again and she immediately starts to kick with her feet and wave her arms again, trying to keep herself above the surface, but the water’s in constant motion and it seems determined to keep her head above water.

Sadly, she’s never been told about how dangerous the sea really is, and especially the undertow, and before she can take as much as another breath, a large wave comes in and sweeps her under the water’s surface once again.

 

Regina isn’t sure why or how, but the second time underwater, she can no longer see the sun. She doesn’t realize that the wave had tossed her around so that she now faced the depths of the ocean, and so, as she tries to swim ‘up’, she’s actually swimming down to the bottom.

She wants to cry, scream, or anything, really, but air is precious and she can’t afford to waste even a second of it.

But when she spots something from above/below her, she almost gasps.

At first she sees only a yellow light, but then, as she squints, she sees a streak of black in the center. Then it comes closer and she almost gasps again, but she keeps her mouth shut and merely stares. Because now she realizes what she’s looking at…

Or, more accurately, _who_.

‘ _Leviathan…!_ ’

The large sea dragon is looking at her, her yellow eye narrowing as if trying to gauge her to be threat, but Regina twists her own face into a determined frown. She can’t speak – can barely even _breathe!_ – but she hopes the Hydraean will understand what she means to say. She doesn’t even realize her eyes are glowing violet in the depths of the water.

But then Leviathan twists her head, though Regina has no time to worry or panic as something suddenly presses into her from the front and then she’s pushed and she realizes she’s on the dragon’s face, right before she breaks the surface again and she can breathe.

Regina is taking huge gulps of air, before she pushes up and scrambles along the dragon’s snout so she can look into one of the serpent’s eyes. Leviathan growls something, and it’s in a tongue that Regina should not have been able to understand, but somehow the words still filter into her head. And instead of replying with words, she merely nods and then turns around so that she’s crouched on the dragon’s snout, before Leviathan almost shoots out from the water like a bullet from a gun.

Leviathan then snaps her head once and Regina kicks out her legs at the same time, and she’s practically flying off of the Hydraean’s face. And this time she doesn’t let herself fall too far before she throws a spear and warps over to safety to join her friends.

“Hey, Sol, I’m just gonna borrow this, alright?!” she asks the moment she’s into range, and Solaris merely chuckles as she grabs the Trident of the Oracle. He doesn’t even seem to care as it bursts apart into crystalline shards and then joins the other weapons that now circle around her.

He merely says: “Don’t let me stop you,” as he steps back and pulls out his rapier from its sheath.

Regina doesn’t even bother with another response as she lifts her hands slightly and then flings them forward. The weapons surrounding her immediately rush for the large octopus one by one, and it’s yowling at the sting, but Regina doesn’t care as she warps in and starts slicing at the tentacles, knocking them back and away before she moves to her friends.

“Everyone back off!! Hurry!!” she shouts, and no one dares to say no, because they’ve all seen the Hydraean already.

Only the octo seems to have missed the memo.

“Huh? Leaving so soon?” it taunts, but then it seems to catch sight of the shadow hovering over it. “Uuuuuuh…”

Regina merely smirks at the large purple monstrosity, and then she quips: “Hope you like being tossed around in the water,” right before the wall of water slams down on him.

And no one cares when it yowls and screams as it’s swallowed up by the massive Tsunami.

 

“I am _never_ going to the sea ever _again!_ ”

“Oy, Dom, c’mon, chill; it’s _over_ , a’ight?”

Regina sighs as she returns to the living room from the shower, wearing some easy clothes she’d fished from her closet. Given her small tumble into the ocean, it was no wonder that, once they had come back, everyone (including herself) realized she smelled like sea water. And they knew that, if her Dad or Gladio, or Iggy (most likely Iggy with his lack of sight making his nose better), knew about that, they’d all be grounded in their own respective ways.

Libby sighs softly, shaking her head, before she looks to Regina. “I’m fairly certain already, but I assume you succeeded, correct?”

Regina smirks as she lifts up her right hand and turns the palm to face Libby, showing off the dark serpentine figure that now circled the rest of the mark. “Yep.”

This makes the brunette nod as she adjusts her glasses. “Good. Then we are almost done with this.”

“Yeah,” Regina chuckles, before she turns to her friends. “Hey! Who’s up for ice cream?”

No one bothers to say “no” to the prospect of ice cream.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the massive delay. Had a lot of real life stuff messing things up. Anyway, got a bunch of new stories up for vote. So let me know which you want to see first.
> 
> -Gaia's Wrath; because sometimes the earth is just angry with you  
> -Imagination; dreams are cool… because anything can happen there (direct sequel to “Relaxa-tion”)  
> -Mega Flare; light is always nice, but too much can be just as damaging as a lack thereof  
> -Hellfire; when there’s literally not enough water to quell a fire  
> -Armum; to serve and protect requires a little more than just the desire to do so  
> -Forsaken; those who are abandoned by fate are often those whose stories matter most  
> -Watchful; it’s nice to know someone has your back at all times  
> -Pitch; more important than proper preparation is the proper dress code  
> -Listening Ear; because everyone needs someone to listen to their problems (two-part series)


End file.
